Two additional container rail shuttles have been put into operation between Rotterdam and the hubs of Kehl and Strasbourg, increasing the total number of services to seven.
In November, the railway company MMR Intermodal Services added one service to Strasbourg, extending roundtrips from two to three.
Additionally, the C3C partnership between Danser Group, Haeger & Schmidt Logistics and Ultra-Braghas extended the Alsace Rotterdam Express with a regular service to Strasbourg. The latter train was used on three weekly services to Kehl in Germany.
“Additional terminal capacity became available at Strasbourg-Nord, which explains this extension,” stated Michel Bot, sales & marketing manager at Danser Group. “As a result, we add 90 TEU import and 90 TEU export to our volume every week,” he added.
While Strasbourg is situated on the French bank and Kehl on the German bank of the Rhine, the two regions serve the French town of Alsace and Baden-Württemberg in Germany, but also provide additional transport to Switzerland by inland shipping, according to a statement by the Port of Rotterdam Authority.
“If it was not for capacity restrictions in Rotterdam and the last-mile handling in France and Germany, we would certainly have increased the number of rail shuttles further,” noted Maik Bastian, general manager of the Intermodal Division at Haeger & Schmidt Logistics.
The cargo consists of all sorts of goods, from electronics to furniture and from car parts to light fittings – and the export cargo includes a lot of wine. With the third return trip, MMR adds 103 TEU to its capacity.
“The volumes are increasing rapidly. Together we went from zero to seven rail services per week in just a few years,” said Mattijs Nollen, managing director at MMR Intermodal Services.
Almost 400,000 TEUs are transferred annually via the two trimodal terminals of the Port Autonome de Strasbourg and the one in Kehl, with direct rail and truck services connecting the terminals with the port of Rotterdam and other seaports.
In due course, Strasbourg aims to double the current container volume per train and operate new rail services to Duisburg, Eastern Europe, Spain, and China, while possibilities for a new railway terminal in the southern port area are also being explored.
“In 2021, rail traffic between Rotterdam and Strasbourg doubled,” said Maria Cherkasova, who is responsible for the multimodal development of the Port de Strasbourg. “Transport by rail is efficient and environmentally friendly,” she added.
Every week, over 400 international container rail services run to and from the port of Rotterdam. Within three hours, the freight passes the German border, and many destinations in Europe can be reached within 24 hours.
